Finals and Photographs
by coral2000
Summary: Annabeth and Percy have known each other since they were little, but they're already in college and Percy hasn't told her that he likes her yet. Well... not until this rushed and inaccurate story happened. College AU. Percabeth and minor Jasper.


The room was silent besides soft breathing, and it soothed Percy to the core of his being, so for the first time that week (It was _finals_ week. Basically, he'd been half-dead for days), he could finally relax.

He was in Annabeth's dorm room, lying in her bed amongst remnants of the takeout order he had brought earlier and holding Annabeth to his side. She was thinking – he could tell, because she always did it, and she wasn't studying (during the aforementioned finals week, too, when there was still one more day of testing to go).

"Wise Girl?" he asked hesitantly, a little guilty about breaking the wonderful silence.

Annabeth shifted slightly, before letting out a distracted, "Hmm?"

"What're you thinking about?"

"Oh, nothing."

Percy made a face and rubbed circles on her arm with his thumb, mainly out of habit. "C'mon, we've been best friends since we were twelve years old. I think I can tell when you're _thinking._ I mean, when are you not?"

Annabeth grinned slightly, one corner of her lips turning up. But she was too content to let out more than a small hum and curl closer into Percy's warmth.

Percy made a disgruntled noise, but said nothing else.

The peaceful silence dragged on.

That is, until Piper burst into the dorm room, acting completely frantic.

"Anna, have you seen my science textbook?" she exclaimed as soon as she rushed inside, her eyes darting around wildly. "I haven't seen it since… oh, hi Percy."

Percy smiled and lifted his hand in greeting. "Hey, Piper."

Annabeth scowled as she pushed herself up. "I was _resting_," she complained.

Piper laughed. "Sorry. I know you need your rest when you haven't slept for days, but it's important! Pleeeeeeease?" She turned her begging eyes to Annabeth, who made a face, but sighed.

"Fine, beauty queen." She let out a sleepy yawn and got out of bed to survey the room. After checking under Thalia and Piper's bunk bed, she asked, "Wasn't that the textbook that you dropped onto Thalia's bed when she was napping and woke her up? The one that you said you'd get later?"

Piper's eyes widened in realization. "Oh, shit. Where's Thalia?"

"No idea," shrugged Annabeth. She turned back to the bed. "Percy?"

Percy thought for a moment. "Nope. Sorry, Piper."

Piper scrunched her nose. "Ugh. Well, thanks, Annie."

"Don't call me that," sighed Annabeth as she made her way back to her bed and began to shove takeout boxes off the blankets.

"Then, don't call me beauty queen," laughed Piper, already almost out of the dorm.

"Sure, Pipes," mumbled Annabeth, already feeling tired again. She yawned. "I'm so glad that Rachel doesn't spill paint onto me or anything," she murmured to Percy. "It makes having the bottom bunk easier when nothing's falling on you."

"And I'm so glad the other guy in my bunk isn't Leo," replied Percy, "Although Nico snores. Loudly."

Annabeth let out an unladylike snort and swaddled herself in blankets. "And you drool in your sleep."

"Hey!" Percy said indignantly. "At least it doesn't bother him. Or Jason and Leo. And how come you're getting all the blankets?"

"Because it's my room," answered Annabeth childishly. "And try not to drool on me while I sleep, Seaweed Brain."

He stuck out his tongue, but she didn't see it because her eyes had already fluttered shut.

* * *

"Hey, man, have you seen Nico?" asked Leo, twirling his wrench around his fingers. "'Cause I got his motorcycle all fixed up." He let out a low whistle. "Damn, that's one sweet ride. Do you think he'd mind if I took it out for a spin?"

Percy laughed. "He'd probably kill you. That motorcycle is practically the most precious thing in the world to him." He shuffled through some of the crumpled notes covering his bed, trying to absorb the information, but it slid out of his head.

Leo shook his head, his curls bouncing. "Man, that guy's _dark._ D'you think he's a zombie? Maybe he's out to eat your brains… that would be Annabeth, of course."

"Eugh." Percy threw his stuffed dolphin at Leo's head.

"Hey, man. No offense intended," grinned Leo, ducking to avoid getting smacked in the face. "Nice stuffed animal, by the way. Real manly."

Percy stuck out his tongue. "Annabeth doesn't judge me for it."

"Ah, so this is like '50 Reasons Why Percy Jackson Has a Giant Freaking Crush on Annabeth Chase'? Let me go first! 'Her sparkling gray eyes…'"

"I don't- I mean… it's not like that, Leo!" Percy tried to explain frantically, his cheeks flaming. "We're friends, that's all."

"Mhmm." Leo wiggled his eyebrows and smiled goofily. "Alright, man. Gotta go. Just tell Nico when he comes back that I'm done repairing his precious 'motorcycle of death,' so he'll stop hounding me."

"Sure. Of course."

"See ya later, then!"

Percy went back to glaring at his textbooks in a vain attempt at studying, but the words all mushed together and he couldn't understand anything. Frustrated, he shoved the textbook off his bed and heaved himself up to pick up Delphin the Dolphin.

As he bent down to reach the toy, the lock on the door clicked and it swung open to reveal Jason, looking as clean and put-together as always. His eyes took in Percy's disheveled appearance and his bed in the background that was covered in rumpled papers, and his nose wrinkled almost indiscernibly. But, he let it go, knowing that Percy wasn't exactly _organized._ (Although he still wasn't sure how Percy had made that much of a mess in such a short time, because that mess definitely wasn't there when he woke up that morning.)

"Hey, man." Percy tossed Delphin onto his messy bed and flopped down on it. "Did you need anything?"

Jason sat down carefully on his bed. "I just… Leo's been busy making something. And Hazel and Frank are on a date. And Reyna's studying, which I should probably be doing, but… I keep thinking about Piper, and I came to you because I thought you might have that same problem with Annabeth."

Percy shot up from the bed. "Wait, what?"

"Umm…" Jason cleared his throat. "Everyone knows you like Annabeth."

"I don't… Well, as a friend… and that's all – nothing else!" Percy _really_ wished he didn't blush as easily as he did. And he wished he knew how to keep his cool in those kinds of situations. That would've been helpful.

Did everyone really know that he liked Annabeth? Did _Annabeth_ know that he liked her?

Jason shifted uncomfortably. "But… what do I do about Piper?"

Percy admitted defeat. He buried his face in his hands and groaned. "I'm not exactly the expert on this. I mean, I've known Annabeth since we were _twelve_, and nothing's happened. Maybe you should just tell her?"

Jason bit his lip, before blurting out, "But what if she says no? What if she doesn't like me? What if Reyna does something horrible because she hates Piper?"

Percy thought for a moment. "Dude, Piper will definitely say yes. She's got a massive crush on you. But you're right… it wouldn't be good to hurt Reyna like that."

"Hurt Reyna?" Jason looked confused, like he didn't understand how those words connected.

Percy was surprised that he hadn't noticed Reyna's obvious crush on him. "Reyna _likes you._ You two used to _date._"

"But… it was a mutual breakup! We both decided that we weren't working out, so we just…" he trailed off, looking somewhat bewildered.

Percy sighed. And people thought _he_ was the oblivious one. "She – likes – you," he said, pronouncing every word carefully.

"But I like Piper! What do I do?"

"I don't know, talk to her or something?"

"What do I _say_?"

"Just tell her you're going to ask out Piper and see what she thinks!"

There was a moment of silence, before Jason asked, "Do you think that I should?"

"I don't know," admitted Percy. "But it can't hurt to try, right?"

"Actually, it can," mumbled Jason. But he sighed. "Okay, I'll go tell her now, then. If she's still studying at that Starbucks around the corner."

"Tell me what happens," called Percy as Jason turned the corner. He went to his cabinet to dig out some more notes or _something_ to help him get a better grade when he came across some old photographs of him and Annabeth.

They were taken at summer camp in Camp Half-Blood. In the first one, he was in the lake, smiling goofily at Annabeth, who sat, laughing, on the dock and swinging her legs. Her hair was pulled into a loose ponytail with some strands coming out to frame her face, and her orange camp shirt was speckled with water that Percy had splashed at her. The sun was setting in the background and it shone all around her.

He sighed, brushing his fingers over the picture before studying the next photo. It was a group shot of him, Annabeth, Thalia, Nico, and Rachel. He and Annabeth were still in armor, with swords in their hands, although Annabeth typically preferred using her knife. Nico had his knife and Thalia had her bow and arrows, while Rachel laughed and waved her paintbrush around.

They were all smiling hugely and laughing, even Nico, and he could vaguely remember that their camp director, Chiron, was taking the photograph. They were laughing because Katie Gardner was chasing after the Stolls right behind him when the photo was being taken. And behind them, Katie's cabin had been egged, but… without eggs. The Stolls had used cereal dripping with milk, and it looked absolutely disgusting. A smile grew on Percy's face at the memories as he looked through the other photos, until Annabeth snuck up on him.

"What are you looking at, Seaweed Brain?" she asked with a grin from right behind him and scared Percy so badly that when he tried to turn around, he tripped over his feet and fell face-first onto the ground.

Annabeth picked up one of the pictures that had flown out of his hand and scattered around the floor, and her face softened. It was one of those photo strips you get in the booths, featuring her and Percy making silly faces. It wasn't something that the _mature_ Annabeth Chase would normally do, but Percy made her act like such a child sometimes.

"You kept these?" Her voice was gentle and quiet, something that startled Percy for a moment as he scrambled to his feet.

"Well, more like I shoved them into a cabinet and rediscovered them," he shrugged, brushing off his shirt and trying not to blush.

"Oh." A small smile stayed on her face as she looked through the other photos.

"Um…" Percy cleared his throat. "Jason stopped by."

"Hmm?" Annabeth didn't really seem to be paying attention.

"He wanted advice because he likes Piper. And he didn't know that Reyna still likes him."

Annabeth finally looked up. "Really? But it's so incredibly obvious! How-?" She shook her head. Her hair was loose – something Percy loved – and her curls bounced around her head. "Well, why'd he ask _you_ for relationship advice?"

Percy's ears felt warm with embarrassment. "Um… something about suppressed feelings? He thinks I like this girl…"

Annabeth's smile faded. "Oh." Her jaw was set and she no longer looked carefree and happy. "Did he mean Rachel? Because you two are pretty close-"

"No, no!" Percy blushed fire-engine red. "He actually meant, um… you."

"Really?" A coy smile made its way onto Annabeth's face, replacing the stormy look in her eyes as she preoccupied herself with the pictures again. "Well, that's ridiculous."

"Not really, I mean we spend a lot of time together and all that and I can kind of see why he thinks we like each other, not that we do, I mean, I do like you, because you're my best friend and I've known you since forever and, gods, Annabeth, you're special and all that, but like-liking you? Jason is-"

Annabeth laughed. "You're rambling, Seaweed Brain." She looked at him affectionately, and Percy's heart thudded. He let out a shaky laugh.

"Yeah…"

She tapped a photograph of Thalia practicing archery with her finger. "Remember when-"

Jason burst into the room, breathing heavily. "I told Reyna," he managed. "She got mad and yelled at me in the middle of Starbucks about Piper and then she slapped me and left." He looked up and blushed when he saw Annabeth.

"Oh… hi, Annabeth," he said awkwardly.

"Hi." Annabeth was hiding a smile at the story, so she turned back to the picture of Thalia.

Percy cleared his throat. "Sorry, man. Maybe you shouldn't have gone to me for advice. I'm not good with this stuff."

Jason shook his head. "It's fine. It's better for her to find out now, before I actually ask out Piper, right?" He glanced back at Annabeth. "I should go. I'll see you later, Percy, Annabeth." He backed out of the room and closed the door.

Annabeth suddenly erupted into laughter, holding her sides and giggling (something else she never did). "Oh, gods," she gasped, "That was _awful_."

Percy began to laugh, too. "Everything's so complicated for him. I mean, he can't even like Piper without something getting in the way. I'm so lucky that no one besides your mom complains about me loving you."

Percy froze as soon as the words left his mouth. So did Annabeth.

"Uhh…" For all the blushing Percy did in his lifetime, he was certain that he had never been as red as he was right then.

Annabeth laughed again, suddenly. "It took you long enough, Seaweed Brain," she teased, bumping him with her shoulder.

"Wha-?" Confused, he stumbled when Annabeth grabbed the front of his shirt, pulled his face down to hers and…

Kissed his cheek.

Warmth spread out from where her lips touched his skin and she pulled back smiling slyly as he pouted.

"Aw, come on, Wise Girl…"

She lifted her eyebrow challengingly and turned away to pick up another picture, but Percy grabbed her arm, spun her around, and kissed her on the lips.

Her eyes widened before closing, and she entwined her fingers into his hair.

When they pulled away, they were both gasping for air.

"Finally," came a voice from the door.

Nico DiAngelo stood smirking in the doorway, twirling the key to the room around his finger. Leo poked his head in, too, and nodded quickly. "Yeah, man, the sexual tension was _killing me,_" he announced dramatically, putting his hands over his heart. "Got the whole thing on tape, too." He wiggled his eyebrows. "Everyone at camp is gonna get a copy of this!"

"LEO!" fumed Annabeth. She marched towards him. "Just wait, you-" Thalia, who, for some reason unknown to Percy, was there as well, laughed at her best friend.

"Annie, this was _so_ overdue…"

Jason stood awkwardly next to Piper, who was grinning hugely. He cleared his throat and looked at her. "Um, Pipes…" He whispered something into her ear. A blush painted her cheeks suddenly and she turned to tackle him in a hug.

"I love you, too, you big idiot!" she laughed.

Percy pulled Annabeth back from potentially killing Leo. He wrapped an arm around her and looked at Piper and Jason. "If only Frank and Hazel were here," he said, squeezing her shoulders.

Annabeth rolled her eyes, pushing his arm off, and walked to the door. As everyone looked at her confusedly, she slammed the door shut and turned back around to face Percy.

"Help me pick up the rest of these pictures, Seaweed Brain," she ordered, hands on her hips.

"Why?" He made a face. "I-"

And then Annabeth employed a rather effective method of getting him to shut up. But Percy wasn't complaining.

The End


End file.
